I don’t believe being preprofessional or career oriented and intellectual are mutually exclusive. Yes these students must play the GPA game and don’t have the academic freedom many of their peers enjoy to take classes that may place their GPA at risk. Most pre-prof students are actively involved in research projects and many will publish literature during or shortly after college. Being an introvert or happy nerd may be a disadvantage to their career goals which often value extroverts with strong interpersonal and public speaking skills.
Greek organizations get a lot of publicity about social issues but tend to have higher academic success, are overrepresented in university leadership positions, have higher retention, higher graduation rates, raise more money for charities, have stronger connections to their university, and fewer feelings of lonliness than their non-Greek peers. VU has also started a residential housing system which offers another opportunity for students to connect with their peers which is a good thing. They seem to be decreasing the Greek influence on campus. There is also a great deal of data showing the advantage of Commons like housing for freshman to help students transition to college and to increase retention. I certainly understand it may not work for all students and I would favor more options for freshman.
Vandy also keeps 85% of its students living on campus which helps create an academic community that many peer U’s don’t have as students live off campus.